Posted inSalem

How U.S. Bank got to cut down five beautiful downtown Salem trees

Today I got an excellent comment on my blog post, "U.S. Bank kills large downtown trees. Don't bank with them."  It's the best explanation that I've seen so far about how this (one of five trees that has been, or will be, needlessly cut down by U.S. Bank)... Became this... The story of how this happened is disturbing. I'll talk more about what this sorry tale says about Salem politics and Chamber of Commerce influence-peddling in a following post.  Here's the comment from Cherry City Blogger, with a few misspellings, typos, and links cleaned up for easier reading. If you…
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Posted inSalem

U.S. Bank kills large downtown trees. Don’t bank with them.

Yesterday the U.S. Bank tree killing spree began in Salem, Oregon. Three of five large Japanese Zelkovas, which have beautified downtown Salem for about fifty years, were cut down for no good reason. The other two trees are on the chopping block. Innocents, their only crime being that some U.S. Bank executive didn't like them, they await their turn to be changed from this... To this... I was disturbed about this two days ago when I wrote "Downtown trees destroyed: shame on U.S. Bank and City of Salem." That was before the trees were cut down. Today I visited the…
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Posted inSalem

Downtown trees destroyed: shame on U.S. Bank and City of Salem

Who doesn't love trees? Well, yesterday and today the Statesman Journal ran stories about two Salem entities which don't: U.S. Bank and the City of Salem. (photo by me and my iPhone; taken this afternoon while trees are still standing) Tuesday some tree lovers protested the decision to allow U.S. Bank to remove five beautiful trees that grace the street in front of the downtown Ladd and Bush branch. A city decision to permit the removal of five Japanese Zelkova trees on the north side of the Ladd and Bush branch of U.S. Bank prompted protest Tuesday at Commercial and…
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Posted inSalem

Salem’s Minto Island Pedestrian Bridge/Trail looks like a winner

I'm a frequent critic of the town I've lived in or near for 36 years, Salem. Us cynical old-timers like to call it, So-Lame. Compared to Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, Ashland, Bend, and other Oregon cities with a lot more creativity, energy, coolness, and vision. But yesterday I attended a meeting of the Salem City Club where speakers brought us up to date on the status of the long-planned bridge from the downtown Salem riverfront to Minto Brown Island. Annie Gorski, project manager for the City of Salem, showed slides of what the bridge will look like. Way cool! Something I…
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Posted inSalem

Why can’t Salem have ONE organic vegan restaurant like this?

My daughter stuck a (figurative) knife in my heart today. Well, make that in my stomach.  I'd just finished five miles of longboard land paddling at Minto Brown Island Park here in Salem, Oregon. I was pleasantly tired. Also, not-so-pleasantly hungry.  Checking my iPhone, I saw that Celeste, who lives in Studio City, California, had sent me a text message. We've been talking about us coming down for a visit. Guess she wanted to entice me and my wife, health-conscious vegetarians that we are. Just discovered a new veggie restaurant in the valley you guys will love! I asked what…
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Posted inSalem

Vision for Salem’s riverfront development to be shown April 1

I'm not a big fan of how plans for Salem's downtown riverfront have devolved from a classy, creative, cool mixed use development to rental apartments and a medical rehabilitation facility. Nonetheless, I'd go to what seems to be a "sales job" for what's being called the Riverfront Park Community if the day and time didn't conflict with my Monday Tai Chi class.  It's Monday, April 1, 5:00 pm at the Carousel. Refreshments! I hope someone else will attend the gathering, then tell their tale. Here's info about it. I'm interested in learning more about what's planned for the old Boise…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Eugene newspaper looks at Salem’s riverfront development (quoting me!)

Ah, there I am, on the front page of yesterday's Eugene Register Guard, pondering the future of Salem's riverfront, wondering whether the re-development of a Boise Cascade industrial area into a mixed-use zone will succeed in revitalizing a part of Salem that could add so much to downtown living, working, and playing. OK, not true. Actually I was wondering whether the newspaper's photographer was going to make me look like an old geezer/derelict (albeit in waterproof REI gear) hanging out at a fence overlooking Minto Brown Island Park, pondering the pros and cons of taking my pack and tarp into…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

David Withnell omits facts about protest at Dodge dealership

A few days ago I saw some guys holding a banner on the sidewalk in front of Salem's Withnell Dodge dealership on Commercial Street. Couldn't read the banner as I drove past. I figured it was some sort of advertising for the dealership. Nope. It was a protest by the Pacific NW Regional Council of Carpenters. I learned this via a February 27 letter to the editor in the Statesman Journal from David Withnell. On Jan. 23, 2013, I showed up for work to find three people in front of my Dodge dealership with a 50-foot banner stating, “Shame on Withnell…
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Posted inSalem

Oh, no! Medical care facility planned for Salem’s riverfront.

How many ways can Salem, Oregon depress me? More than this resident of 35 years can imagine, even after all that time.  I'd never imagined that a giant white "Ross Dress for Less" sign would uglify the brickwork on Salem Center, greeting downtown visitors coming across the Center Street bridge with Welcome to Tackiness Land.  Yet what I never imagined has come true. And when plans for the industrial wasteland on the riverfront just south of downtown that used to be a Boise Cascade plant were first revealed, I never imagined that what was billed as a wonderful "mixed use"…
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Posted inSalem

Ross Dress for Less sign in downtown Salem is an abomination

Usually I shun the word "abomination." Sounds too Old Testament'y. As in fornication outside of wedlock is an abomination.  Not true. But here's a genuine abomination: the Ross Dress for Less sign that was recently installed on Salem Center brickwork.  Walking up Liberty Street, this is the garish sight that meets your eyes as you reach Center Street. A disgusting large white sign that is way larger than the moderately attractive Salem Center sign above it. The sign clashes with everything around it. Including the red brickwork. Approaching downtown Salem from the Center Street bridge, the abomination is doubly abdominable…
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Posted inSalem

Willamette Week reports status of Oregon weed scene

Nice overview in alternative newspaper Willamette Week of how marijuana is getting more and more mainstream in oh-so-green Oregon. (Thanks to Jack Bogdanski for cluing me in to the stories via a blog post, since it's tough to find copies of WW down here in not-cool Salem.) I found "You're Not High in Portland Until... 28 things to do when stoned in Stumptown" particularly entertaining. Someday I hope the reporter will write a similar piece about Salem. Likely it wouldn't take too long. If he or she gets to 3 things to do, I'd be amazed. Ride Riverfront Carousel... stare…
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Posted inSalem

Salem’s riverfront development looking better, but not great

If you're a Salem, Oregon area resident who isn't regularly reading the Breakfast on Bikes blog, you should be! It's not really about bicycling, though it partly is. Many, if not most, of the posts are focused on how our sometimes-fair city needs to improve alternative transportation and mixed use options. Today's blog offering is an excellent overview of what's happening (and what isn't) with the re-development of the old Boise Cascade industrial property along Salem's riverfront: "Proposed Apartments for Boise Site Turn Backs on Park." I agree with the overall conclusion.  It's great news that things are heating up…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Unfunny humor about gun control

Yesterday a bunch of people brought guns to the Oregon capitol building. They paraded outside showing off their rifles, handguns, shotguns, and other pseudo-macho paraphenalia. Some even brought them inside, since Oregon is one of the few states that allow someone with a concealed handgun permit to carry around a military-style assault rifle in the halls of a Capitol.  Now, news of this sort of event should stimulate a reasonable question: "Who the heck would be so crazy as to carry guns around in public like that for no good reason?" After all, if I was a tourist visiting a state…
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Posted inSalem

Salem needs an “Edwards Addition” like Monmouth has

OK, let's get past the name of this otherwise-cool housing development: Edwards Addition, which sounds like a boring afterthought, is anything but. Today my wife and I met the developer, Eric Olsen, at the Mid-Valley Home Show (Americraft Building, State Fairgrounds, today through Sunday). We'd just started to browse the show when I heard "Brian and Laurel!" Turning toward the Olsen Design and Development booth, which likely we would have walked right past otherwise, Molly Beecroft greeted us cheerily.  Molly is a former neighbor, and current realtor, who works with Eric. Her charm and my desire for a free gift soon…
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Posted inSalem

Natural Grocers coming to Salem. We’re not excited.

My wife and I love LifeSource Natural Foods, currently Salem"s one and only natural food store. Health-minded eaters that we are, vegetarian and organic-leaning, we enjoy the friendly atmosphere and good selection of food at LifeSource. However, we also lust after a Whole Foods, Market of Choice, New Seasons, or other larger natural food store with more choices and lower prices. Usually when we're in Portland, Corvallis, or Eugene, we stop at one of the stores that Salem should have, given its population, but doesn't. So I was more than a little excited when I glanced at the front page…
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Posted inSalem

I count the irritations, waiting in line at the post office

Oh, irritating irritations, I had plenty of time to count you up during my lengthy wait at Salem's Vista Station post office today. (1) Walking in the door at about 2:30 pm on a Tuesday, a time I figured would be pleasingly low key busy-wise, and finding about a dozen people lined up in the small lobby. I only needed to pick up a package that required a signature. Didn't want to come back; didn't want to run the risk of having our mailhuman try to deliver it again at a day we weren't home. (2) So I decided to…
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Posted inMiscellany Salem

Starbucks’ new Blueberry Oatmeal worth the extra buck

Today Starbucks started off by disappointing me, but ended up deliciously surprising me. Love your new Blueberry Oatmeal! It's a winner. Once again, the West Salem Starbucks didn't have any multigrain bagels by the noon'ish time I arrived for my regular Sunday get-together with some friends. That always irritates me, since the only stuff health-conscious me likes to eat at Starbucks are the multigrain bagels and the oatmeal. But since I have oatmeal for breakfast every day but Sunday (when I make a gigantic whole grain pancake), I prefer the different'ness of the bagel. Sounding as pathetic as possible, I…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

New “Vancouvria” episode shows how scary Portland is

I love Vancouvria. Though only disseminated via You Tube, It's a lot funnier than the IFC's Portlandia in my utterly objective and unarguable opinion. Episode 1 of Season 2 has been released by the Vancouvria folks. It's great! "Big City Survival Class" shows how Vancouverites who are terrified of crossing the Columbia into Portland are cured of their fears. Sort of. Have a look, and laugh.   Seemingly I shouldn't be too scared of Portland, judging from the final few minutes of the video showing photos of the Vancouverites making their post-therapy field trip to the Mysterious Land across the…
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Posted inSalem

Dark Sky radar image of Northwest shows — shock! — RAIN.

There's some good news and bad news in this iPhone screenshot I took a few minutes ago of Dark Sky's radar image of the western United States. Good news: Almost everywhere, it isn't raining or snowing. Note all the black. Bad news: We in the Pacific Northwest are getting hammered by storms. Light blue is lighter precipitation; reddish purple is heavier precipitation.  I love Dark Sky. It makes crappy weather more entertaining. Or at least, more predictable. The app is pretty darn accurate when it comes to forecasting rain or snow in the next hour. And the radar images, both…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Statesman Journal endorsement of Romney: pathetic editorial

There's good opinion/editorial writing, and there's poor opinion/editorial writing. Our (sadly) one and only local daily newspaper, Gannett's Salem Statesman Journal, falls into the "poor" category.  The paper's endorsement of Mitt Romney yesterday offered a prime example of why the editorial section should be held up before journalism students as an example of how not to write an opinion piece.  Understand: I enjoy reading well-reasoned, thoughtful, factual opinions by conservative columnists whom I usually disagree with politically. David Brooks is one. I can follow his train of thought and appreciate how he came to his point of view even if…
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